How To Get Wi-Fi In Kia Carnival [Step-By-Step Guide]

Did you recently purchase a Kia Carnival and want to know how you can get Wi-Fi access while driving? You’ve come to the right place, for we have researched this question and have the answer for you.

Kia has a partnership with Verizon to provide select Carnival trims with access to Wi-Fi Hotspot. To activate, follow the steps below:

Download Kia Access if it is not yet available on your phone. Install it from Google Play or Apple App Store.
Wait until the app completes the installation.
Enter your Carnival’s VIN.
Get a verification code for activating Kia Connect.
Activate your Kia Connect.
Complete verification on your phone.

Let’s talk more about Wi-Fi access in your Carnival in the sections below. Learn how to get Wi-Fi access if Wi-Fi Hotspot for your Carnival is not available in the succeeding sections.

Read on!

What Is Kia Connect?

Kia Connect is the rebranded UVO eServices beginning in 2021.

It is an app that you can install on your mobile device to allow it to connect to your Kia vehicle—or, specifically, your Kia Carnival. The basic functionality of your Kia Connect is to allow the Kia Vehicle to make hands-free calls on your mobile phone, do navigation, and stream music.

There are apps that you can download to your Kia Carnival from the Kia Connect download center.

Unfortunately, most of the more advanced features in Kia Connect—like “Find My Car,” “Remote Climate Control,” and “Remote Lock/Unlock”—require a subscription.

Kia Connect Subscription Packages

There are four Kia Connect subscription tiers.

The most basic—“Lite”—is complimentary for up to 5 years. Next is “Care,” then “Plus,” and finally, “Ultimate.”

The features of each plan can change without warning, and the availability of the features can be different from state to state. Most of the features under the different plans require access to the internet.

Wi-Fi Hotspot On Kia Carnival

Wi-Fi Hotspot on Kia Carnival is powered by Verizon. However, not all Carnival trims have access to this feature. There is an online search on this link where you can enter your Carnival’s VIN to check if it is eligible for Wi-Fi Hotspot.

If your Kia Carnival has access to Wi-Fi Hotspot, you get a free trial of 3 months or 3GB of data—whichever runs out first.

Since this is not a perpetual partnership between Kia and Verizon, it can end without warning. This means that if the partnership ends without you using the trial period, you might no longer get access to it. Similarly, the terms of the trial access can change without warning.

Moreover, since Wi-Fi Hotspot is powered by Verizon, the service can be problematic in areas where Verizon’s service is weak.

Each eligible Kia vehicle gets only one free trial.

How To Connect To Wi-Fi Hotspot?

After you’ve activated the Wi-Fi Hotspot on your Carnival, the next step is to connect your devices to it. Here are the steps that you need to follow to connect to Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Turn on your Carnival.
Tap “Confirm” on the pop-up message on the screen.
Wait for the screen to bring you to the “Home” screen.
Navigate to the left and look for the “Setup” icon.
Tap “Setup” and navigate to “Data/Network.”
Navigate to “Wi-Fi Hotspot.”
Tap on “Enable Hotspot.”
Take note of the Wi-Fi Hotspot details like the SSID and Password.
Go to your device and enable Wi-Fi.
Look for available Wi-Fi networks and wait for your device to find the Wi-Fi Hotspot network. The SSID is the Wi-Fi Hotspot network name. Look for that on the list of detected Wi-Fi networks.
Tap on the Wi-Fi Hotspot SSID to connect.
Enter the password to connect to the Wi-Fi Hotspot network.
Open a browser or app to connect to the internet.

Advantages Of Internet Connectivity While Driving

Streaming music and entertaining your passengers with video streaming are not the only advantages of having internet connectivity while driving.

Navigation, traffic updates, and weather updates all require access to the internet while you’re on the road. And these features provide useful information, especially if you’re driving for long distances.

Most emergency services nowadays are also accessible through the internet. However, internet access while driving comes with a caveat.

Considering our daily exposure to the internet, having access to Wi-Fi inside your Carnival can easily distract us while driving and become a safety hazard. Focusing on driving is even more important with available Wi-Fi in your Carnival.

How To Connect To The Internet Without Wi-Fi Hotspot?

The internet connectivity provided by Verizon is available only on specific Carnival trims. Kia Carnival trims without access to Wi-Fi Hotspot will not be able to avail of this feature even with a subscription to Kia Connect. Moreover, maybe you just don’t want to use Wi-Fi Hotspot from Verizon.

If you do not have access to Wi-Fi Hotspot in your car, there are still other options to connect to the internet while driving your Carnival. We’ll talk about these methods in detail in the sections below.

Mobile Data

The simplest way to get internet inside your Carnival is through mobile data. Most people have mobile data subscriptions anyway, which makes this the simplest solution to stream music on your Carnival while on the go.

The drawback to this solution is the uneven signal strength. Vehicles are constantly moving, which means that a location with a strong cellular network signal could disappear completely in another area. Fortunately, there is a simple solution to this problem.

You can use a mobile signal booster to boost the signal strength of your mobile device while you’re driving. Connect a mobile signal booster to the auxiliary power connector of your Carnival. It will automatically boost the mobile signal from your phone and improve internet connectivity.

Click here to see this car cell phone signal booster on Amazon.

Mobile Device As Hotspot

If you’re going for a long drive and you’re traveling with kids, streaming music might not be the only reason you need internet access on your Carnival while driving. You will need to share the internet connectivity with your kids to keep them entertained while on the trip.

This can be done by setting up your mobile device as a hotspot. Most modern mobile phones can be set up as a hotspot for internet connection sharing.

Enable the hotspot feature on your mobile phone and set the SSID and password. Using these two pieces of information, you can connect the mobile devices of your kids to keep them entertained during the trip.

Keep in mind that this feature can quickly drain your mobile phone’s battery. It can also cause your mobile phone to warm up quite fast.

Place your mobile phone close to an AC vent to keep it cool, and connect it to a charging port on your Carnival.

Access Point Hotspot

A mobile hotspot may not be reliable enough to support multiple devices at a time. A mobile phone is not made primarily to host multiple devices as a hotspot router. You can get around this problem by using an access point hotspot or a range extender device.

What these devices do is that it takes the Wi-Fi signal from your phone and then distribute it. Your mobile phone will only need to worry about one device connecting to it, and the hotspot will take care of the connectivity of other devices to it.

Another advantage of this device is that it strengthens the Wi-Fi signal making it more stable even when you’re on the go.

Set up the device on your laptop and then connect it to a USB power source inside your Kia Carnival, and you will have your own Wi-Fi network inside your Carnival while on the go.

Click here to see this wireless portable travel router on Amazon.

Dedicated Mobile Hotspot

Taking the access point hotspot idea further brings you a dedicated mobile hotspot. What this device does is it takes your mobile network’s internet connectivity and distributes it like a regular home router inside your car!

Here are the simple steps to do this:

Remove the battery cover of your mobile hotspot or portable hotspot device.
Insert the mobile SIM card into the card slot under the battery bay.

- If you want to install this as a permanent Wi-Fi source inside your car, you will need a separate Wi-Fi subscription for the SIM card that you will use for this device.
- Some of these devices have a small display to show your data usage.

Reinstall the battery cover.
Connect the device to a USB power source in your Kia Carnival.
Install the device on your Kia Carnival. You can install it anywhere inside your Kia Carnival, and it will still be able to send the Wi-Fi signal to all devices inside without a problem. The only thing that you need to consider is to make sure that the power cable will not interfere with your driving. You can even hide the device inside the glove compartment.

Click here to see this NETGEAR Nighthawk M5 5G Mobile Hotspot with Wi-Fi 6 on Amazon.

In Closing

Activating Wi-Fi Hotspot on your Kia Carnival is simple once you install the Kia Connect app on your phone. However, not all Kia Carnival trims have access to this feature. Fortunately, there are other ways to get internet access in your Carnival while you’re driving.

If you enjoyed reading this article, you might find the articles below equally enjoyable to read:

Car Bluetooth Music Skipping – What To Do?

How To Play Videos On Toyota Tacoma Screen?